Electrical Stimulation as a Strength Improvement Technique: A Review

Abstract

The dominant philosophy within rehabilitation has been that electrical stimulation is a valuable kinesthetic muscle reeducation technique, but voluntary exercise is of greater benefit in restoring voluntary muscular control and improving the strength of injured muscle. Much publicized Soviet research has suggested that this preference for voluntary exercise may be inappropriate and that electrical stimulation is the technique of choice for strengthening normally innervated muscle. This position has not been supported by the limited non-Soviet research. Whether this lack of support is attributable to an inability to duplicate the Soviet current format and/or application technique, or simply that electrical stimulation programs are not more effective than voluntary exercise programs, is presently unknown. To date, neither the voluntary exercise philosophy nor the nonvoluntary exercise (electrical stimulation) philosophy has overwhelming scientific support. Electrical stimulation programs must be compared with traditional voluntary exercise programs before practitioners are in a position to confidently accept or to refute either method. Until an adequate number of research studies have been conducted, practitioners cannot meet their obligation to know what the most effective strength improvement techniques are and to make such treatment available.J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1982;4(2):91-98.